Even New Jersey hard rockers Bon Jovi know if you want someone to eat brussel sprouts you’ve got to serve them steak first.

And so the band, playing the first of two shows at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night, opened the evening with one of their biggest hits from the ’80s, You Give Love a Bad Name, before heading into unfamiliar territory, i.e. music from their new album, What About Now, due March 12 in Canada (moved up from its original March 26 release date).

In fact, a couple of Lost Highway tunes from 2007 — the title track and Whole Lot Of Leavin’ — followed that promising opener and then the band got into new songs like the anthemic Because We Can — the first single and also the name of their latest trek — and That’s What the Water Made Me.

“How the hell are you?” said frontman Jon Bon Jovi, 50, looking good in black leather and denim, if a little tired around the eyes just a week into their Because We Can world tour.

“It’s good to be back in Toronto, I’ll tell you that. I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking. Me, you, the next two nights, five hours combined.”

The fact that the band — rounded out by lead guitarist Richie Sambora, 53, keyboardist David Bryan, 51, drummer Tico Torres, 59, bassist Hugh MacDonald, 62 and a touring guitarist — can still deliver two-and-a-half-hour nightly shows is impressive given 2013 marks their 30th anniversary as a group.

Their longevity and success has definitely paid off judging from their impressive in-the-round stage boasting state-of-the-art lights — moving columns that went up and down behind them all night long — and basically the group itself.

Turns out Bon Jovi, the man, is his own special effect with the smallest gesture — stopping mid song, pointing his acoustic guitar up towards the nose-bleed section or stretching out his arms — causing a major crowd response.

And when he walked to the front of the band’s semi-circular catwalk — after an outfit change into a red shirt and white and grey jacket —- to sing the new ballad, Amen, before being joined by Sambora for another one, The Fighter, plus the older tune, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, you could see that fans — some offering up a Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey — didn’t want him to retreat.

The older When We Were Beautiful, from 2009’s The Circle, was another surprise vocal highlight and when Bon Jovi decided to climb and walk along the lighting columns at the back of the stage during We Got It Goin’ On, he definitely lived up to the song’s name.

But one of the evening’s biggest standouts was a lengthy version of Keep The Faith, with Bon Jovi on maracas and some notable guitar and keyboard work from Sambora and Bryan, along with other highlights Wanted Dead or Alive and Livin’ On A Prayer, which both prompted major crowd singalongs, Who Says You Can’t Go Home, and set ender Bad Medicine before two encores.

Of the seven new songs, the best one was Army of One, destined to be a band classic.

“Thanks for being patient with the new stuff,” said Bon Jovi. “I know our record isn’t out ’til next month but we’re very excited.”

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Bon Jovi mixes old with new at ACC

Even New Jersey hard rockers Bon Jovi know if you want someone to eat brussel sprouts you’ve got to serve them steak first.

And so the band, playing the first of two shows at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night, opened the evening with one of their biggest hits from the ‘80s, You Give Love a Bad Name, before heading into unfamiliar territory, i.e. music from their new album, What About Now, due March 12 in Canada (moved up from its original March 26 release date.)

In fact, a couple of Lost Highway tunes from 2007 - the title track and Whole Lot Of Leavin’ - followed that promising opener and then the band got into new songs like the anthemic Because We Can - the first single and also the name of their latest trek - and That’s What the Water Made Me.

“How the hell are you?” said frontman Jon Bon Jovi, 50, looking good in black leather and denim if a little tired around the eyes just a week into their Because We Can world tour.